In the midst of a chaotic home still grieving over the death of a child, a girl named Gertie bravely takes on an invasion of mold monsters who have come to suck the house dry of all life.

SYNOPSIS:

Gertie fights the Germans in the trenches of Europe in WWI. She scrambles through the

mud and muck of the battlefield and is nearly overwhelmed by German soldiers when her

brother Dannny shows up and promptly fights by her side until they defeat their foe.

Then, back in her real world, Gertie has to get out of the movers’ truck to let the movers

do their job. She complies gradually as her father gradually insists that she cease her

game and stay out of the way.

At their new home, parents and Gertie go fishing where parents have to make an effort to

avoid their personal difficulties. Meanwhile, Gertie turns the occasion into a Native

American hunting party with her and Danny. Once back home, the moving chores

continue and dad moves a box that uncovers a grate in the garage. Gertie crawls through

a tunnel as she eavesdrops on her parents' arguments, some of which touch on Gerties

own life and her imaginary friend, the deceased older brother.

As they argue, a rusty hatch in the tunnel opens creakily and the Mold Monster lets itself

into the tunnel.

The next morning, Gertie is ready to go to school. Her mother drops her off while mom

and dad continue to struggle with their move. Meanwhile, the Mold Monster finds dad

asleep on the couch and infects him with green goo. Dad thinks he has a cold.

The family begins to settle into their new home and school. After their first night

in their new home, both parents are sick enough that they decide to keep Gertie

home from school. She uses the day to help care for her parents as best she can

considering her age, and to plunge into her imaginary world where she and

Danny find vials of green liquid that will clearly serve as the antidote to their ills.

Then Gertie tries to deliver a bowl of soup to her father but finds Mold Monster

trying to make him more sick than ever. She frightens Mold Monster away and

tries to tell her mom what she saw. But mom has heard it all before and is not

interested in another chapter of her imaginary world. Gertie retreats to her room

for a cry and Danny comes to her.

They set off on another adventure. This time, to something like ancient Egypt

where she and Danny open a sarcophagus only to discover they have released a

deadly curse.

Back in the real world, Grandpa shows up to help them in their new home. Gertie

tells him about a monster in the house but he shrugs it off as mold in the ac

system. He sends her into the attic to smell out mold but all she finds is a book

that gives her instructions about how to handle the Mold Monster. And the book

is signed by a series of previous tenants. She reads the instructions and returns

the book to where she found it.

Gertie tries to sort out what she has learned, but her eavesdropping on an intense

argument between her father and her grandfather only hurts her more.

Gertie transports herself to the Old West, on a wagon train with her grandfather.

She hears him tell the story of how she got her name, from her grandmother, who

met her grandfather during the Second World War in the Philippines. Then she

returns to her new home in the real world. But it isn’t any more improved than

when she left it so she flips again to another pretend world. Here, Danny helps

her to understand that the Mold Monster has weaknesses and that on her next

birthday, she will become older than her older brother. She flips away to ignore

him.

That evening, Gertie manages to trap the Mold Monster and promptly tries to

show off her quarry to Grandpa. But Grandpa is duct taped to his recliner,

apparently by his daughter.

Gertie cuts him loose and she and Grandpa look at what she has in the portable

kennel in the garage. Grandpa isn’t impressed with Gertie’s capture and instead

simply commands Gertie to take the kennel outside. He will get the professionals

to come tomorrow to make the house free of mold and other sickening agents.

Gertie visits with Danny who tells her that he is leaving. She won’t hear it.

Instead we see how Danny met his end. Gertie thought it was her fault, Grandpa

thought it was Dad’s fault, but it was nothing more than an animal attack that no

one could have foreseen.

Danny insists that Gertie leave him be so she and her parents and her Grandpa

can move on without him. She refuses.

Gertie and Grandpa hunt Mold Monsters through the house and finally find Mom

and Dad struggling with the flu. They try to revive them and even try to call 911

but the phone doesn’t work.

Danny shows up and tells Gertie that he is going to leave forever. She is

overcome with anger. Danny tells her to go to where the Mold Monsters come

from and defeat them there. Then he disappears.

Gerties takes off to fight the Mold Monsters. Grandpa is asleep and Mom tries to

wake him to find Gertie. He sleepily tells her that the Mold Monster got her. She

is terrified.

Meanwhile Danny tells Gertie that she has to defeat the Mold Monsters by facing

them where they live. He tells her to ‘believe.’ Then Gertie falls into a deep well

where at the bottom is the dwelling of the Mold Monsters.

She manages to escape the trap and finds herself in an open field and facing a

Mold Monster with nothing but her crowbar. She is nearly overwhelmed by the

Mold Monster but she resolutely stares at him and says ‘I see you’ over and over.

The Mold Monster shrivels up and dies.

Back in the house all are reunited and all realize that each of them has ‘faced it.’

Danny was killed more by chance than anyone’s fault and they can now let him

go and get on with their individual lives.

They have a birthday party for Gertie and all manage to have a good time with

no sign of any lingering jealousy or anger. Danny watches from a distance and

Gertie goes into the attic and signs her name into the book she found there.

Then she feeds the neighbor dog a hot dog and promptly goes out into the street

and makes friends with a new neighbor, her age, and Danny’s age. They walk off

together for their own new adventures.

GERTIE AND THE MOLD